Hajime weakly stumbled on the walls of Strawberry House. This was part of the crazy funhouse the rest of his fellow students were trapped in. They..or at least he was the only one too paranoid when they were standing at the start of the train into the funhouse. And his paranoia was accurate. They ended up gassed and trapped without food in a weird, eye-burning house. The colors burned even more now that it was three days into their captivity.
Or at least, their captivity in the funhouse. His mind couldn't find how long it had been since they were mysteriously transported to Jabberwock Island.
If it even was Jabberwock Island. It was still a small thought but the thought that Jabberwock might not be the real one remained in his head.
Even while he was almost starving to death. His questions seemed to stay.
Hajime got to the wall closest to the Final Dead Room. His breath was labored even more from the journey over there.
Was this what starving felt like?
But he kept on. Reaching the door, his hand hovered above the knob. Shaking. He was shaking. At least his hands were. But he had to do it, that's where the exit would be. That's how they would get out and be safe. Or at least not starving.
"I can get out! With this, I can finally..get out!" He mumbled out breathlessly, his lips hardly moving as he was speaking. His breathing was becoming heavier; he had to get to the door.
"...You can't do that." A familiar voice said smoothly and suddenly from the side. Hajime immediately flipped around, his back smacking on the wall as he fell back. Chiaki was staring at him, having concern being the only clear emotion in her expression. She tightly held the bottom of her backpack straps. "You shouldn't go in there. You..won't find what you're looking for." She didn't sound tired or even fazed by their situation at all. She sounded like her normal, calm Chiaki. Hajime assumed his expression became something close to a protest. He heaved. "The-that's not true, Chiaki! The exit is going to be here!" He paused for another breath. "It's got to be."
"...There is no exit." Chiaki didn't pause after his words. She immediately replied. "All that's there...is the Life-Threatening Game." Chiaki came closer to Hajime, looking and focusing on the door, before her eyes tilted towards him. "Even if you clear it, you'll only obtain the weapon that Monokuma prepared..." When she paused for what had seemed a while, her gaze back to the door and observing the red and while creepy door. She backed up once again. Her eyes now showed terrible concern. "Do you want that weapon? What are you planning to do once you obtain it?"
Hajime didn't say anything. He would never kill someone. But with the starving feeling his thoughts were more than dazed. What would he do with a weapon?
Chiaki suddenly spoke up. Blankly. "...Do you need it?" It was almost as if she knew what he was thinking. Or similar to that. His hope was that she wasn't scared of him.
Again he didn't say anything. His throat was dry without words.
With his silence he heart Chiaki start to explain something. "You had this intense, worried look on your face while you were walking, so I followed you..." 'Is she concerned for what i do? Why does she care?'
Chiaki tilted her head. "It looks like I made the right choice." Her hand touched her heart. Holding it. "Come on, let's go back, Hajime..." She came close, helping her arm pull his arm over her shoulder. "Okay..? We'll go to the lounge."
Hajime held his arm tightly over Chiakis shoulder. Letting her drag him down to the lounge in grape house. The entire time he hardly knew what she was saying or if she was even saying anything. He could feel his own heart pound at her care for him.
Once they reached the lounge, Chiaki stopped at one of the chairs to drop him on it. Hajime didn't control his head, letting it sling off the edge of the chair. She sat in one not to far from his chair. "You--Wh-wh-y didn't you let me go in? Ch-Chiaki." Hajimes words hardly came out clearly. His own words didn't echo in his ears.
Chiaki sat still on her chair. Hands in her lap, though they weren't still. She was fidgeting her fingers. "I couldn't let you do it."
"But the-the door." He spit out.
She shook her head quickly. "No. That wasn't the exit Hajime. It was what it says, the Life-Threatening Game to obtain the ultimate weapon. That's all it is. No door to get out."
Her tone seemed so flat. But even with that she still had concern in it. "Its just as Monokuma said. You have to kill someone to get out. Of course..I..didn't think you were going to the room to do so.."
"Why?"
"Because you aren't the type of person. We may be starving. We're all starving in this funhouse. That just means we have to work together to stay alive." Her voice had so much hope in it. She scooted her chair close, grabbing one of his limp hands. "We'll get through this."
"How? With someone dying."
"I'm hoping not." Chiaki chuckled breathlessly. "I really hate sounding like Nagito with the whole hope charade."
"Maybe he's edging us on. Giving us hope but in the most fucked up way." Hajime felt spit from his mouth fly out. He tried to wipe his mouth on the side of his shirt. But, he was too weak to do so. Chiaki lifted her thumb to his cheek, rubbing it off then to his shirt collar. Her eyes were staring into his as she finished, sitting back down into her chair. "Hajime.."
"What..?"
She started fidgeting her hands again. This time with his hand added into the mix. "I would like to do something." Her voice was quiet, she started to pull her chair closer. Now, their knees were touching. Hajime breathed deeply still. He could hardly keep his eyes open at the exhaustion. Chiaki didn't speak before taking the bottom of his jaw in her small palm. Her skin against his was warm, even on just her hand. Hajime felt her pull his face close to her own, not hesitating at all to press her lips gently to his tired lips. Hajime felt like he had woken up. Or at the very least someone brought him back from the lethargic feeling he had from starvation. Chiaki's lips were pillowy, soft moving. When she pulled back, her breath was heavy. "Chiaki." He said quietly.
Hajime brought his hand up to the back of her head, pressing her forward so they would be in a kiss again. He held her close ad he could without her falling off of her own chair. Both of their hands still in Chiaki's lap were shaking, Hajime clutched her hand trying to ease her. And himself.
After moments of the kiss, Hajime backed up himself. "I had to let you know.." Chiaki started with an even heavier breath, she was partly gasping. "Before something happened. I can't let you starve not knowing how I felt..or..if..." Her words became lost from her breaths. Hajime held her hand tighter, pulling her hand to intertwine their fingers. "Chiaki...I...if I starved..if I had gone through the final dead room...I wouldn't have told you either." He mustered out a smile.
Chiaki did too. Her thumb that was on his cheek starting to caress his skin. "So do you think you'll be okay? Because...we can't go on in here if you won't. I--I wouldn't be able to."
Hajime stumbled while trying to stand, also being helped by Chiaki. She held his arm over he shoulder, leading him towards the elevator.
~~~~
Hajime nuzzled into his pillow, his chin sliding on the top of Chiaki's head. Her hair was fuzzy against it, but he didn't mind. He needed some sort of comfort in this situation. And that comfort was her. She had no refusal when she took him back to his room and he asked if she would stay.
"I still stand by what I did." She said softly. "I would have felt guilty if you didn't know. If anything happened and I didn't say anything."
Hajime inhaled heavily. "I would have been guilty if i never knew." he laid a kiss on the top of her head. "I--really like you Chiaki."
He curled his arm over to wrap around her, pressing from her head to her shoulder. Hand taking her hand and entangling their fingers. She was quiet. Just her head pressed on the pillow and the sound of her heavy breathing. "Chiaki?"
"Hm?" She mumbled tiredly. Her eyes were already starting to close and she hardly moved when she replied. She was already starting to fall asleep. "Thank you. For staying with me tonight."
She let out a soft yawn, then collected her breath before speaking again. "No problem." She turned slightly to face him. Her droopy eyes blinking gently with a warm, tired smile.
Hajime waited for a moment. A brief moment of silence. Then, he starts to here her snore. And he knew she was asleep. He moved to kiss her forehead. And went back into his own pillow to fall asleep.
~~~~~~~~
First oneshot! I hope you enjoyed it! Most of my oneshots will be substantially long, to make up for them not being a full fledged story. Hope that's okay! Some will be short. But most will be long. Anyway hope this is good!
Hope you enjoyed reading!
--MFP--